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properties, or to use more definite terms, its capa- 

 bilities for production; and to do this, plainly, some 

 knowledge ef the nature of the soil ; and its mineral 

 wealth are necessary. The geological survey of India 

 has not extended to a hundredth part of the unculti- 

 vated part of the country. It is only the other day that 

 the climates of Assam and Cachar, were looked upon 

 as deadly to human life, and their soils as capable only 

 of producing dense jungle and the rankest vegetation. 

 The capabilities of the soils of much of the great 

 wastes of India are as little known now, as those 

 of these now coveted lands were then. No one 

 then, can possibly be in a position to say what 

 is their value. Hence, probably, the determination 

 to sell them by auction. But here, again, we are 

 forced on the horns of a dilemma, for it has been 

 already shown, that, in the absence of the most active 

 competition, this species of sale is precisely that in 

 which there is the greatest possible risk of loss ; 

 and to fix a limit, or upset price as it is called, 

 to any purpose, it is an essential that the value of 

 the thing to be sold be ascertained, which in regard 

 to this land, has been determined to be, at present, 

 impossible. Gladly would I get out of this diffi- 

 cultly, but truely I do not see the way. 



I am fully aware of the differences of opinion 

 regarding the relative values of land and capital 

 in wastes reclaimed, and that some economists have 

 gone so far as to assert that the whole is capital, 



